The agreement between you and Sohana when you use the platform — written in plain English, with no buried clauses.
These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legal agreement between you and Sohana when you access or use the Sohana platform (sohana.app, our mobile applications, and any related services).
By creating an account or using the service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Sohana.
These Terms work together with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Read all three.
Beta-stage notice: Sohana is currently a beta-stage platform pursuing regulatory authorisation. We are not yet a licensed financial institution in any jurisdiction, and during beta no real funds are processed. The full real-money service will only operate once authorisations are in place. These Terms anticipate that future state but apply now to your beta use.
Sohana is a platform that digitises community-based savings systems — commonly known as ROSCAs, Tontines, Njangis, Esusu, Chamas, or Tandas. It also includes pool savings, fundraising campaigns, and a multi-currency wallet.
At launch, Sohana will operate as an agent of a licensed payment institution. We are not a bank. Wallet balances will not be bank deposits and are not covered by government deposit insurance schemes. During beta, no real funds are held; the platform is for demonstration and onboarding only.
To use Sohana, you must:
When you register, you create credentials and provide personal information. You are responsible for keeping your password confidential. You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use.
Before sending or receiving funds at launch, you will need to complete identity verification. We may request additional documentation at any time to comply with KYC, AML, or sanctions requirements. We may suspend your account if verification is not completed or if our regulatory partners flag concerns.
When using Sohana, you agree not to:
Violations may result in account suspension, account closure, recovery of funds, reporting to authorities, and (where applicable) civil or criminal legal action.
Sohana facilitates group-based financial activity (ROSCAs, Pools, Campaigns). When you join a group, you participate in a community agreement with other members.
We provide the technical infrastructure: ledger, audit trail, contribution tracking, payout orchestration, and the NCS. We do not arbitrate disputes between members about money owed outside what the platform records.
If you create a circle, pool, or campaign, you are the organiser. You set rules within the platform's framework. You must apply them fairly. You cannot use organiser tools to disadvantage members for arbitrary reasons.
During beta, Sohana is free to use. At launch, we will introduce a transparent fee structure. Fees will always be:
Currency conversion (when implemented) will incur a fee that we will disclose at the time of conversion. The current target is 0.7% on conversions, but this may change before launch and will always be visible at the moment you authorise the conversion.
During beta, the service is provided "as is." Bugs, downtime, and feature changes are likely. By using beta, you accept that the platform may behave unexpectedly. No real funds are processed during beta, so financial risk is bounded — but data loss, performance issues, and feature changes can still occur.
Sohana facilitates group savings, but cannot eliminate the risks inherent to community-based finance:
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Sohana is not liable for:
Our total liability for any claim is limited to fees you paid to Sohana in the 12 months before the claim arose (or, during the beta period when there are no fees, EUR 100).
Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot legally be excluded — including liability for fraud, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, and any consumer-protection rights you have under your local laws.
Sohana, the Sohana name, the Hanatag concept, the NCS engine, the S lettermark, all software code, design assets, documentation, and the platform architecture are owned by Sohana or licensed to us. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works of any of it without our written permission.
Content you submit (profile information, complaint descriptions, bio, etc.) remains yours. By submitting it, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to use it for the purpose of operating the service.
You can close your account at any time from your profile settings, subject to:
We may suspend or close your account if you breach these Terms, fail KYC verification, are flagged by sanctions or fraud screening, or use the platform in ways that risk other members. Where possible, we will give you advance notice and an opportunity to remedy the issue.
If you have a complaint or dispute with Sohana, please contact us via our complaints process first. Most issues are resolved within 5–10 business days.
Once we obtain regulatory authorisations, you will have access to relevant external dispute resolution bodies in your jurisdiction (for example, the Financial Ombudsman Service in the UK, the AMF mediator in France). We will publish the relevant body for your jurisdiction here as authorisations are granted.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where Sohana's primary operating entity is registered. The specific governing law will be confirmed in this section once our final corporate structure is registered. Nothing in this section limits any rights you have under your local consumer protection laws.
We may update these Terms as the platform evolves and as we obtain regulatory authorisations. When we make material changes:
If you disagree with a change, you can close your account before it takes effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
For legal questions, contract clarifications, or anything unclear in these Terms, contact us. For complaints about the service, please use the complaints process instead — it's faster and tracked.
legal@sohana.app